Jury Finds Bercaw Guilty In Slaying

A Northampton County jury deliberated just over two hours yesterday before finding Todd Matthew Bercaw guilty of first-degree murder for the April 4 shooting death of Pastor Joseph Thomas Thompson Jr.

Bercaw, 23, of Palmer Township, remained impassive as the verdict was delivered by the jury foreman.

Judge Jack A. Panella sentenced him to a mandatory term of life in prison, plus 2-1/2 to five years in prison for illegally carrying a gun.

"Your act deprived a wife of her husband, seven children of their father, and a community of its spiritual leader," Panella told Bercaw as he set the sentence.

Bercaw's mother, Virginia, cried quietly, at one point burying her face in her husband Roger's shoulder. Roger also cried quietly. As sheriff's deputies led his son from the courtroom the older man cried out in a thick, agonized voice, "I love you, Todd. I love you, Todd."

A moment later, Sheriff Alfred Diomedo returned to the courtroom and handed Bercaw's mother the gold cross he wore during the trial, saying it was her son's request that she have it.

Although deputies asked that spectators stay seated, Roger Bercaw -- who was hushed by his wife after he muttered something angry and unintelligible -- said, "I want to get out of here," and burst toward the door. A deputy gently told the New Jersey prison guard to relax; Bercaw snorted, "`Relax.' It's easy for you to say that."

Behind the Bercaws, the family and friends of the slain 45-year-old minister, who led First Baptist Church of Easton for 17 years, sat quietly. Theresa Thompson, his widow, had a calm look on her face.

Asked outside the courtroom if she had any comment, she shrugged, shook her head with a small, quiet smile, and said, "I don't know what to say."

Joyce Wright, a sister of the victim, said she was satisfied with the verdict.

"People were watching for the results of this, and I think if it had gone any other way, people would think they could get by with anything. All they'd have to do is claim they were all messed up on drugs," Wright said.

One of the Thompson's seven children, 15-year-old Justin, said of Bercaw, "No matter how bad the judgment is down here, I'd hate to see him face God with this, unless he gets his heart right before he passes on to the next life."

Earlier, in a powerful closing argument, District Attorney John M. Morganelli urged the eight men and four women of the jury to return a verdict of first-degree murder, rather than the third-degree murder finding suggested by the defense.

As he did during his cross-examination of Bercaw on Monday, Morganelli recounted all of the many details of the killing that Bercaw did remember, scoffing at the notion that Bercaw recalled everything except the actual discharge of the firearm.

Suggesting that the panel should dismiss Bercaw's tale of being heavily drugged and unable to make a conscious decision to kill, Morganelli said, "It's time to take responsibility for what he did in this case, and most of his problems stem from his use of drugs."

He reminded them that earlier in the day they learned that Bercaw, who during the trial was repeatedly termed "borderline retarded," had actually obtained high grades in at least some major subjects, despite graduating near the bottom of his class.

Morganelli also responded to Assistant Public Defender Samuel P. Murray's contention that Bercaw "was not walking around armed to the teeth like Rambo that night," and that the revolver might have discharged when the hammer dropped, rather than when the trigger was pulled.

"Do you think it matters to Rev. Thompson that he (Bercaw) didn't have all those boxes of ammunition that night? He only needed one bullet to kill."

"Do you think it matters to Rev. Thompson, to his wife, to his seven kids, how he (Bercaw) pulled the trigger? He pulled the trigger, and he knew what he was doing.

"He wanted to be on the front page of the newspaper for killing someone, and he got what he wanted," Morganelli said, referring to evidence that Bercaw is obsessed with Charles Manson and notoriety.

Murray, who represented Bercaw along with Assistant Public Defender Michael F. Corriere, asked the jury to "probe deeper" than he said the prosecution had in preparing its case.

The defense contended that Bercaw's mental illnesses and a massive overdose of his own and his mother's prescription tranquilizers prevented him from forming a specific intent to kill Thompson, who was taking his regular Saturday night walk to meditate on the next day's sermon.

Asking the jury to consider the expert testimony of a psychiatrist and a psychologist who testified that Bercaw is disturbed and was under the influence of drugs, Murray said, "He had diminished capacity at that second in time when he met and shot Pastor Thompson."

"Look at his patterns -- mental illness, taking lots of pills and waking up in the hospital. Look at the last four years or so of this young man's troubled life," when Bercaw attempted suicide and attacked friends and family members, apparently while under the influence of alcohol and drugs.